This discounted lifetime license to Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2024 is a great alternative to pricey monthly fees.
(via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)
No, there weren't "2,700 heatwave deaths due to climate change", says Ben Pile – a figure conjured by Met Office and Imperial College modelling. But nobody must be allowed to remember the warm days of 2026 fondly.
The post No, There Weren’t “2,700 Heatwave Deaths Due to Climate Change” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Asylum accommodation costs have more than trebled to over £15 billion and made a billionaire out of Clearsprings owner Graham King. This scandalous racket needs to end, says Madeleine Gillies.
The post Asylum Accommodation is Ripping off the Taxpayer appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Microsoft 365 (and Office 365) subscribers get more frequent software updates than those who have purchased Office without a subscription, which means subscribers have access to the latest features, security patches, and bug fixes. But it can be hard to keep track of the changes in each update and know when they’re available. We’re doing this for you, so you don’t have to.
Following are summaries of the updates to Microsoft 365/Office 365 for Windows over the past year, with the latest releases shown first. We’ll add info about new updates as they’re rolled out.
Note: This story covers updates released to the Current Channel for Microsoft 365/Office 365 subscriptions. If you’re a member of Microsoft’s Office Insider preview program or want to get a sneak peek at upcoming features, see the Microsoft 365 Insider blog.
Release date: June 16, 2026
This build includes, in the words of Microsoft, “various fixes to functionality and performance.”
Get more info about Version 2605 (Build 20026.20182).
Release date: June 9, 2026
This build offers “various fixes to functionality and performance,” according to Microsoft.
Get more info about Version 2605 (Build 20026.20168).
Release date: June 3, 2026
This build fixes a single bug, in which images didn’t display when using top and bottom text wrapping in classic Outlook.
Get more info about Version 2605 (Build 20026.20140).
Release date: May 26, 2026
This build offers “various fixes to functionality and performance,” according to Microsoft.
Get more info about Version 2605 (Build 20026.20112).
Release date: May 20, 2026
This build fixes several bugs, including one in which Excel or PowerPoint closed unexpectedly in rare cases while the user was actively co-authoring, particularly when opening a document for the first time.
Get more info about Version 2605 (Build 20026.20076).
Release date: May 14, 2026
This build fixes a bug in Outlook in which sending mail failed when multiple Exchange accounts were configured.
Get more info about Version 2604 (Build 19929.20172).
Release date: May 12, 2026
The build plugs a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.
What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.
Get more info about Version 2604 (Build 19929.20164).
Release date: May 5, 2026
This build fixes a bug in which Outlook closed unexpectedly after replying to a mail item with labels.
Get more info about Version 2604 (Build 19929.20136).
Release date: April 29, 2026
This build includes “various fixes to functionality and performance,” according to Microsoft.
Get more info about Version 2604 (Build 19929.20106).
Release date: April 21, 2026
This build includes “various fixes to functionality and performance,” according to Microsoft.
Get more info about Version 2604 (Build 19929.20090).
Release date: April 14, 2026
In this build, Copilot can now edit your PowerPoint documents. Copilot can start a new presentation or build on an existing one, generate slides, update content, improve layouts, and polish design, while preserving formatting, structure, and branding.
The build also plugs a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.
What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.
Get more info about Version 2603 (Build 19822.20182).
Release date: April 9, 2026
This build fixes several bugs, including one in Outlook in which users could not close the Copilot chat pane using a keyboard. Users can now close the pane by navigating to the Close button using a keyboard or by using the assigned keyboard shortcut.
Get more info about Version 2603 (Build 19822.20168).
Release date: March 31, 2026
This build includes “various fixes to functionality and performance,” according to Microsoft.
Get more info about Version 2603 (Build 19822.20142).
Release date: March 24, 2026
This build fixes a single bug in which PowerPoint sometimes closed unexpectedly when opening a newly created empty file from the OneDrive folder.
Get more info about Version 2603 (Build 19822.20114).
Release date: March 18, 2026
This build fixes an Outlook bug in which updating a single instance of a recurring meeting in a Microsoft 365 group calendar updated the entire series.
Get more info about Version 2602 (Build 19725.20190).
Release date: March 10, 2026
This build introduces agent mode in Word, which adds a conversational chat experience that helps create, edit, and refine document content as you work. In addition, the build fixes a bug that impacted the rendering of extended characters in calendar items, causing certain characters to appear as question marks.
The build also plugs a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.
What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.
Get more info about Version 2602 (Build 19725.20172).
Release date: March 3, 2026
This build fixes a bug in which closing a document sometimes remained in progress indefinitely after the Office app resumed from sleep or hibernation.
Get more info about Version 2602 (Build 19725.20152).
Release date: February 24, 2025
This build fixes several bugs, including one that caused OneNote to close unexpectedly upon startup.
Get more info about Version 2602 (Build 19725.20126).
Release date: February 17, 2025
This build includes, in Microsoft’s words, “various fixes to functionality and performance.”
Get more info about Version 2601 (Build 19628.20214).
Release date: February 10, 2026
This build fixes a bug that sometimes prevented users from opening emails with the Encrypt Only label in Outlook.
It also plugs a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.
What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.
Get more info about Version 2601 (Build 19628.20204).
Release date: February 3, 2026
This build includes, in Microsoft’s words, “various fixes to functionality and performance.”
Get more info about Version 2601 (Build 19628.20166).
Release date: January 27, 2026
In this build, OneNote applies your chosen proofing language more consistently, so you don’t have to reset it for every paragraph when writing in multiple languages. In addition, the build fixes several bugs, including one that caused Office applications to become unresponsive when profile card-related activities were performed.
Get more info about Version 2601 (Build 19628.20150).
Release date: January 21, 2026
This build includes, in Microsoft’s words, “Various fixes to functionality and performance.”
Get more info about Version 2512 (Build 19530.20184).
Release date: January 13, 2026
This build fixes a number of bugs, including one that caused Excel, PowerPoint, and Word to become unresponsive when profile card-related activities were performed.
It also plugs a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.
What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.
Get more info about Version 2512 (Build 19530.20144).
Release date: January 8, 2026
This build offers, in Microsoft’s words, “Various fixes to functionality and performance.”
Get more info about Version 2512 (Build 19530.20138).
Release date: December 16, 2025
This build offers, in Microsoft’s words, “Various fixes to functionality and performance.”
Get more info about Version 2511 (Build 19426.20218).
Release date: December 9, 2025
This Patch Tuesday build offers, in Microsoft’s words, “Various fixes to functionality and performance.” The build also has a variety of security updates (see details).
What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.
Get more info about Version 2511 (Build 19426.20186).
Release date: December 3, 2025
This build includes, in Microsoft’s words, “Various fixes to functionality and performance.”
Get more info about Version 2511 (Build 19426.20170).
Release date: November 20, 2025
This build fixes a bug in Outlook that caused users to see “Contacting the server for information” repeatedly when loading some emails.
Get more info about Version 2510 (Build 19328.20244).
Release date: November 18, 2025
This build includes, in the words of Microsoft, “various fixes to functionality and performance.”
Get more info about Version 2510 (Build 19328.20232).
Release date: November 11, 2025
This Patch Tuesday build fixes a bug in Outlook that caused some recipients to be unable to access OneDrive links shared with them via email. The build also has a variety of security updates (see details).
What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.
Get more info about Version 2510 (Build 19328.20190).
Release date: November 4, 2025
This build fixes a single bug, in which @mention searches produced no results in Office apps.
Get more info about Version 2510 (Build 19328.20178).
Release date: October 30, 2025
This build introduces a new Get Data dialog in Windows that simplifies finding and using external data, and adds Analyze Data to the Data tab.
The build also fixed an bug in Outlook that prevented users from downloading web add-ins in some virtualized environments.
Get more info about Version 2510 (Build 19328.20158).
Release date: October 21, 2025
This build has, in Microsoft’s words, “various fixes to functionality and performance.”
Get more info about Version 2509 (Build 19231.20216).
Release date: October 14, 2025
This build has a variety of security updates (see details), along with various fixes to functionality and performance.
What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.
Get more info about Version 2509 (Build 19231.20194).
Release date: October 7, 2025
This build has, in Microsoft’s words, “various fixes to functionality and performance.”
Get more info about Version 2509 (Build 19231.20172).
Release date: October 1, 2025
This build fixes two bugs, one in Excel in which ribbon controls were not rendered when rejoining Office sessions in a virtual machine, Azure Virtual Desktop, or remote desktop environment, and another that caused Outlook to terminate unexpectedly when starting.
Get more info about Version 2509 (Build 19231.20156).
Release date: September 23, 2025
This build has, in Microsoft’s words, “various fixes to functionality and performance.”
Get more info about Version 2508 (Build 19127.20264).
Release date: September 16, 2025
This build has, in Microsoft’s words, “various fixes to functionality and performance.”
Get more info about Version 2508 (Build 19127.20240).
Release date: September 9, 2025
This build has multiple security updates (see details), along with various fixes to functionality and performance.
What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.
Get more info about Version 2508 (Build 19127.20222).
Release date: September 3, 2025
This build fixes a bug in which some Outlook add-ins were getting “Office.auth.getAccessToken is not a function” errors.
Get more info about Version 2508 (Build 19127.20192).
Release date: August 26, 2025
This build fixes a bug that caused Outlook to terminate unexpectedly when sending a meeting invite with an encryption label. It also adds support for pixelated rendering of embedded images in SVG assets for the entire Office suite.
Get more info about Version 2508 (Build 19127.20154).
Release date: August 19, 2025
This build fixes a variety of bugs.
Get more info about Version 2507 (Build 19029.20208).
Release date: August 12, 2025
This build fixes a bug which required users to restart Outlook to open a .msg file after initially accessing it once. The build also includes a variety of security updates (see details).
What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.
Get more info about Version 2507 (Build 19029.20184).
Release date: August 5, 2025
This build fixes a single bug, in which users had to restart Outlook to open a .msg file after initially accessing it once.
Get more info about Version 2507 (Build 19029.20156).
Release date: July 30, 2025
This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including in which Outlook closed unexpectedly shortly after launch, and another in Word in which the word count sometimes displayed incorrectly.
Get more info about Version 2507 (Build 19029.20136).
Release date: July 22, 2025
This build fixes two bugs, one that caused the Copilot Command Center to continue to be visible after disabling the Copilot user interface, and another in which when creating handouts in PowerPoint, certain characters (full-width numbers) couldn’t be properly transferred to the handout.
Get more info about Version 2506 (Build 18925.20184).
Release date: July 15, 2025
This build fixes two bugs, one that caused Visio 32-bit to close unexpectedly when using the Drawing control, particularly in setups involving COM components or .NET integrations, and another in Word in which copying and pasting content between documents sometimes changed the applied style unexpectedly.
Get more info about Version 2506 (Build 18925.20168).
Release date: July 8, 2025
This Patch Tuesday build fixes several bugs in Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, and the whole Office suite, including one that caused the Copilot icon to unexpectedly display in Outlook when Copilot had been disabled by the admin in government cloud.
The release also includes a variety of security updates (see details).
What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.
Get more info about Version 2506 (Build 18925.20158).
Release date: July 1, 2025
This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Word in which print preview sometimes stopped working when printing long emails.
Get more info about Version 2506 (Build 18827.20176).
Release date: June 26, 2025
This build introduces several new features, including one in Excel in which the PivotTables dialog box interface has been replaced by a redesigned panel, making it easier to view all of your options and simpler to change your data selection before inserting a recommended PivotTable.
Get more info about Version 2505 (Build 18827.20176).
Release date: June 17, 2025
This build fixes a bug that caused the “Try the new Outlook” toggle to be enabled when working in Classic Outlook side by side with the new Outlook.
Get more info about Version 2505 (Build 18827.20164).
Release date: June 10, 2025
This build fixes several bugs, including one for the entire Office suite in which a Save As attempt on an existing file didn’t complete successfully, and subsequent attempts continued to encounter issues when trying to save to a file that no longer existed.
This Patch Tuesday release also includes a variety of security updates: see details.
What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.
Get more info about Version 2505 (Build 18827.20150).
Release date: June 3, 2025
This build offers a variety of bug and performance fixes.
Read about Version 2505 (Build 18827.20140).
Microsoft Office users may find that some of their applications are failing to open when called on by third-party applications. It’s an issue that has emerged after the latest round of Microsoft updates.
The problem affects Word, Excel, and other Office applications opened from third-party offerings including CCH Engagement, Workpaper Manager, Zotero, or dental office software such as Dentrix or Softdent.
The update issued on June 9 appears to have triggered problems with the OLE automation that these third-party applications use to interact with Office. Users have reported that files are failing to open, with no error message indicating what has gone wrong,
According to one Windows user forum, the issue is particularly frustrating because of this lack of error message. As one user put it, “‘Word won’t open from our workpaper system’ is functionally the same as ‘Word is broken.’ To an administrator, the difference determines whether the next hour is spent repairing Office, rolling back Windows, calling a line-of-business vendor, or opening a Microsoft support case.”
Microsoft has said that it is aware of the issue and is working towards a resolution.
The company is also looking to fix a minor issue that has emerged from this latest round of updates: Users are finding that when items are deleted, the confirmation dialog box displays the internal Recycle Bin file name (for example, $Rxxxxx.ext) instead of the original file name. However, Microsoft stressed that in the Recycle Bin, the item still appears with its original name.
One of the most commonly used Microsoft programs, Excel is highly useful for data collecting, processing, and analysis. To fully harness Excel’s powers, though, you need to make use of formulas.
Excel formulas allow you to perform calculations, analyze data, and return results quickly and accurately. The usefulness of formulas is even greater once you start dealing with large data sets. With the correct formula, Excel can process vast amounts of information in a matter of seconds.
In this article we’ll look at five useful types of formulas and functions that will get you started performing data analysis in Excel. Along the way, you’ll learn several different ways to enter formulas and functions in Excel.
We’ll demonstrate using Excel for Windows under a Microsoft 365 subscription. If you’re using a different version of Excel, you might not have exactly the same interface and options, but the formulas and functions work the same.
If you have the right kind of M365 subscription, you can have Microsoft’s generative AI assistant, Copilot, create formulas for you. This requires an M365 Personal, Family, or Premium plan for individuals or an M365 business or enterprise plan with a paid Copilot add-on subscription — which means not everybody has access to Copilot in Excel. Even if you do, it’s helpful to know what formulas can do and how to work with them so you can write better prompts for Copilot. We’ll cover using Copilot to create Excel formulas later in this story, but first we’ll give you a solid understanding of how to work with formulas and functions.
A formula is an expression that operates on values in a range of cells in Excel. Using formulas, you can perform calculations and data analysis on the contents of the cells. Formulas can be as simple as adding a column of numbers together or as complex as returning the kurtosis of a data set. They can be incredibly useful when you want to turn spreadsheet data into meaningful information for driving business decisions.
A function is a built-in formula in Excel — basically, a shortcut for performing a calculation or other operation on cell data. There are around 500 Excel functions, and the list continues to grow every year. Fortunately, most of the actions that a typical business user would want to perform can be done with just a handful of functions.
We’re going to group these formulas together since they are very simple and have similar syntax. All formulas in Excel start with the equal sign (=) and build from there.
To add the numbers in two cells together, first click the on the target cell where you want the total to appear. Then type = in the cell to start the formula.
Starting a formula in Excel.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Next, click on the cell that contains the first number you want to add, and its cell reference (such as A2) will appear next to the equal sign in the formula.
When you select a cell when building a formula, its cell reference appears in the formula.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Type + next to the first cell reference. Then click the cell that contains the second number you want to add, and its cell reference (such as A3) will appear next to the + sign. The full syntax for the formula to add the values in cells A2 and A3 is:
=A2+A3
The complete addition formula appears in both the target cell and the formula bar above.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Note that in addition to appearing in the target cell, the formula also appears in the formula bar directly above the worksheet. Once you’ve inserted the initial = sign in the target cell, you can type your formula in the formula bar. It’s sometimes easier to see the whole formula and work with it in the formula bar than down in the worksheet page.
If you wanted to add additional numbers to your total, you’d type another + sign, select another cell, and so on. Once your formula is complete, press Enter, and the result appears in the target cell.
Press Enter, and the result appears in the target cell.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Subtraction, multiplication, and division calculations work the same way. You simply change the operator — the symbol that tells Excel what math operation you want to perform — from the + sign to the – sign for subtraction, the * sign for multiplication, or the / sign for division.
Subtraction, multiplication, and division actions. The formula for each is shown in the formulas bar and the result in the target cell.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
There’s a quicker way to add together a group of numbers. This is where Excel’s built-in SUM function comes in.
First click on the target cell where you want the total to appear. Then type =SUM to start the function. A list of options will come up. Click the first option, SUM. You’ll now see =SUM( in the target cell.
Starting a SUM function.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Just underneath the cell with the SUM function is a tooltip showing the SUM syntax:
=SUM(number 1, [number2],…)
To add individual cells together, select a cell, type a comma, select another cell, and so on. (Alternatively, you can type a cell reference, type a comma, type another cell reference, and so on.)
If you want to add consecutive cells (such as in a row or column), select the first cell, then hold down the Shift key and select the final cell in the group. (Or you can type in the cell references for the first and last cells separated by a colon — for instance, A2:A7 selects A2, A7, and all the cells in between.)
Select the range of cells you want to add together.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Once all the cells you want to add together are selected, hit Enter.
Now you should see the final result, which is the sum of the numbers you highlighted. If you highlight that target cell again, you’ll see the full formula in the formula bar — in our example, it’s:
=SUM(A2:A7)
The SUM function is shown in the formulas bar; the result appears in the target cell.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
One important thing to note for all Excel formulas is that they produce relative values. This simply means that if any of the values in the selected cells changes, then the final number will change to reflect that.
If the value of a cell used in a formula changes, the result also changes.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
If you want to make it an absolute value, a number that will not change even if the cells that were used to calculate it change, then you need to right-click the cell and select Copy from the pop-up menu. Then right-click the cell again and, under Paste Options, select the Values button (the icon of a clipboard with 123).
Copy and paste the value into the cell to prevent the value from changing if one of the source cell’s values changes.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Now when you select that cell you’ll just see the plain number, not a formula, in the formula bar.
The cell now contains an absolute value, not a formula.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Tip: Excel provides a SUM shortcut in certain circumstances. If you have a series of numbers in a row or a column, Excel assumes you want to add them together. So if you place your cursor in the cell to the right of a row of numbers and click the AutoSum (Σ) button toward the right end of the Ribbon’s Home tab, Excel automatically selects the numbers in the row, then adds them together when you press Enter. Likewise, if you place your cursor in the cell below a column of numbers, click AutoSum, and hit Enter, Excel totals up the numbers in the column.
AutoSum is a shortcut for adding a row or column of numbers.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
To calculate the average of a group of numbers, repeat the same steps but using the syntax =AVERAGE and highlighting the cells containing the numbers that you want to use in the calculation.
To quickly calculate the average of a group of numbers, use the AVERAGE function.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Tip: As with SUM, there’s a shortcut for using the AVERAGE function if you have a series of numbers in a row or a column. Place your cursor in the cell to the right of a row of numbers or in the cell below a column of numbers. Click the tiny down arrow at the right side of the AutoSum button, select Average from the menu that appears, and hit Enter. Excel calculates the average of the values in that row or column.
There’s an AutoSum shortcut for the AVERAGE function as well.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Find more details, examples, and best practices for these functions at Microsoft’s SUM function and AVERAGE function support pages.
This function helps you automate the decision-making process by applying if-then logic to your data. Using this function, you can have Excel perform a calculation or display a certain value depending on the outcome of a logical test. For example, you can create a test that checks if the value of a cell is greater than or equal to the value of 18 and enter “Yes” or “No” accordingly.
While we’re learning this function, we’ll cover another way to enter functions in Excel: by using the Formulas tab on the Ribbon. Here you’ll find buttons that provide quick access to functions by category: AutoSum, Financial, Logical, Text, Date & Time, and so on. Being able to browse through functions by category can be helpful if you can’t remember the exact name of a function or aren’t sure how to spell it.
To enter the IF function, select the target cell, and on the Formulas tab, click the Logical button, then select IF from the list of functions that appears.
Alternatively, you can click the Insert Function button all the way to the left of the Formulas tab. An “Insert Function” pane appears, showing a list of commonly used functions.
Instead of typing = to start a function, you can go to the Formulas tab and select Insert Function.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Select IF from the list and click OK. (If the function you want isn’t in the “Commonly Used” list, select a different category or All to see all available functions.)
The Function Arguments pane appears, and you’ll see =IF() in the target cell.
You can use the Function Arguments dialog box to build a function.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
The IF function syntax is as follows:
=IF(logical_test,”value_if_true”,”value_if_false”)
You’ll notice that the Function Arguments pane for the IF function has fields for Logical_test, Value_if_true, and Value_if_false. In our “greater than or equal to 18” example, the logical test is whether the number in the selected cell is greater than or equal to 18, the value if true is “Yes,” and the value if false is “No.” So we’d enter the following items in the pane’s fields like so:
Logical_test: B2>=18
Value_if_true: “Yes”
Value_if_false: “No”
or just type the full formula into the target cell:
=IF(B2>=18,”Yes”,”No”)
This tells Excel that if the value of cell B2 is greater than or equal to 18, it should enter “Yes” in the target cell. If the value of cell B2 is less than 18, it should enter “No.”
The IF function in action.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Tip: When using functions like this, rather than entering the function repeatedly for each row, you can simply click and drag the tiny square on the bottom right of the cell that contains the function. Doing so will autofill each of the rows with the formula, and Excel will change your cell references to match. For example, when the formula we used in cell C2 that references cell B2 is autofilled into cell C3, it changes to reference cell B3 automatically.
Autofilling a formula to subsequent rows in the column.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Find more details at Microsoft’s IF function support page.
SUMIF is a more advanced SUM function that allows you to add up only the values in a range that meet the criteria you specify. To use this function, you must specify the range of cells to apply the criteria to, the criteria for inclusion, and, optionally, the sum range, which is the range of cells to total if that’s different from the initial range. The syntax is as follows:
=SUMIF(range,criteria,[sum_range])
Note that any criteria with text or mathematical or logical symbols must be enclosed in double quotes.
In the sales spreadsheet shown below, for example, suppose you want to total up only the sales that are more than $100. The criteria range is C2 to C9, and the criteria is “greater than 100.” Since you’re adding up the values in that same cell range (C2 to C9), you don’t need to supply a separate sum range. So your formula is:
=SUMIF(C2:C9,”>100″)
Using the SUMIF function.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
What if instead you want to find the total for all sales in the East region only? To do that you’ll have to specify both the criteria range (cells B2 to B9) and the sum range (cells C2 to C9). This is the formula:
=SUMIF(B2:B9,B2,C2:C9)
Note that you don’t have to type out “East” for the criteria. You can simply type B2 or click the cell B2 to have Excel search for the text it contains.
Using SUMIF with both a criteria range and a sum range.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
There is a similar function called COUNTIF that lets you create a count of values that meet specified criteria. The syntax is as follows:
=COUNTIF(range,criteria)
So to count the total number of sales in the West region, for instance, you supply the range of cells to apply the criteria to (B2 to B9), followed by the criteria (“West” or cell B3). The formula is:
=COUNTIF(B2:B9,B3)
The COUNTIF function can instantly count up items that meet your criteria.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
What if you want to apply multiple criteria to your data, such as calculating total sales for books in the East region, or counting the number of sales over $100 in the West region? Excel can do that too, via functions called SUMIFS and COUNTIFS. These functions use more complex syntax than SUMIF and COUNTIF. For more details, use cases, and best practices for all four of these functions, see Microsoft’s SUMIF, SUMIFS, COUNTIF, and COUNTIFS support pages.
This function is useful for piecing together text from different cells into one complete string. For instance, maybe you have a worksheet with different columns for people’s first and last names, but you want to put first and last names together. Other common use cases are completing an address, reference number, file path, or URL. The syntax is as follows:
=CONCAT(text1,text2,text3,…)
In this example we will use CONCAT to combine a list of first names and last names into a full name with a space in between. To do so we simply place the cursor in cell C2, type =CON and select CONCAT from the list of options that appears. Next, select the cell that contains the first name (A2) and add a comma, a blank space surrounded by quotation marks, and another comma. Then add the last name by selecting the adjacent cell (B2) and hit Enter. Here’s the full formula:
=CONCAT(A2,” “,B2)
Next, click and drag the bottom right of cell C2 to autofill the formula in all the other rows.
The CONCAT function combined the values from column A with those from column B.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
For more details and examples, see Microsoft’s CONCAT function support page.
This is one of the most commonly used functions in Excel and a valuable data analysis tool. VLOOKUP lets you look up a value in a table and return information from other columns related to that value. It’s very useful for combining data from different lists or comparing two lists to find matching items. To use this function, you need to provide three to four pieces of information:
The syntax is as follows:
=VLOOKUP(lookup_value,table_array,column_index_number,[range_lookup])
The lookup value must be in the first column of cells you specify in the table array. The leftmost column in the table array has a column index number of 1, with subsequent columns numbered 2, 3, and so on.
In this example, we’ll look up what region our employees work in. To do so, we first need to specify the value that we are going to search for: the employee name Mike (cell A2). Next, we need to highlight the entire cell range (table array) that we want to look in: cells F2:G8.
Then we specify which column holds the information that we want. Rather than picking the column itself, we count from left to right within the table array. Since the column that contains the region is the second from the left, type in 2.
Lastly, we enter the TRUE (best approximate match) or FALSE (exact match) option. TRUE is typically only used with numbers or when you aren’t sure if the value you want is in the table. Since we know the value we want is in the table, we will pick FALSE. Generally, FALSE is the better option, as it returns more accurate results.
This is the full formula:
=VLOOKUP(A2,F2:G8,2,FALSE)
Use VLOOKUP to find values linked to other values in large data sets.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
This is an oversimplified example using a small data set, but when you need to search through a spreadsheet with thousands (or tens of thousands) of cells, VLOOKUP is a huge time-saver and reduces the possibility of errors. For more details and examples, see Microsoft’s VLOOKUP function support page.
Remembering all these different formulas and functions can be difficult, so another good approach for those who have access to Copilot in Excel (see details at the top of this story) is to use the AI tool to dynamically create formulas that meet your needs. Using Copilot, you can describe what you want the formula to do and have the AI generate the syntax for you. In this section we’ll demonstrate with two sample data sets.
To access Copilot, click the Copilot icon on your ribbon toolbar or at the bottom right of your screen.
To invoke Copilot, click its icon, which you might find in the ribbon toolbar up top or floating at the bottom right of your Excel window.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
The Copilot sidebar opens along the right side of your spreadsheet. Type in a prompt describing the formula you want created — in this example, a simple formula that adds up all the sales values in the data set. Be sure to instruct Copilot where to place the formula:
Create a formula in B7 that sums all of the sales
Describe the formula you want Copilot to create.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Click the submit arrow in the chat window, and Copilot will create and insert the formula to give you the result you want.
Copilot has inserted the correct Excel formula for the sum operation, with the result appearing in cell B7.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
That was a simple one. Now try a more advanced example working from a more complex data set, as shown in the screenshot below.
A more complex data set for our second example.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
Try the following prompt:
Create a formula in G2 that calculates total revenue per unit while accounting for the discount on each purchase. Then fill the formula down for all rows and create a summary table showing total revenue by Region.
Click the submit arrow, and it should create something like this:
Copilot creates the requested formula and fills in the results.
Shimon Brathwaite / Foundry
(There’s a lot more you can have Copilot can do in Excel besides creating formulas. See our story “11 cool things Copilot can do in Excel.”)
Tip: It’s not required, but it can be helpful to format your spreadsheet as a table when working with Copilot. This helps define more clearly the exact cells for Copilot to use when it creates formulas or takes other actions on your data.
In this story you’ve seen how powerful formulas and functions can be in Excel — and we’ve only the scratched the surface of what they can do. Once you get comfortable using them, you can explore some of the myriad prebuilt functions Excel offers and learn how to build more complex formulas (including nesting functions). That’s all beyond the scope of this article, but a great place to start is Microsoft’s “Overview of formulas in Excel” support page, which includes links to several helpful tutorials.
For those who have access to it in Excel, experimenting with Copilot is another great way to learn. You can review the steps it took and the formulas it created to get a better understanding of how formulas work and what they’re capable of.
This story was originally published in May 2023 and updated in June 2026.
Kelly Hammett’s departure comes as the Space Rapid Capabilities Office is being realigned under the Space Force
The post Space Force’s rapid acquisition office director moves to Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center appeared first on SpaceNews.
Created with support from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), TACLS leverages machine learning to automatically locate evidence (unusual increases in atmospheric moisture) of impending flash flooding that meteorologists may otherwise miss as they analyze large amounts of data. TACLS flags that evidence, indicates where flash flooding could likely occur, and displays that information via a user-friendly visualization for human analysts to interpret. Those analysts can then decide whether to issue a flash flood warning or weather advisory.
This novel framework for tracking extreme weather events and predicting imminent flash floods operates in near real-time, producing forecasts in as little as fifteen minutes.
“That’s really what we wanted to do, to give meteorologists a tool to help decision making for flash flood warnings,” said Yehuda Bock, Distinguished Researcher at the UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography and principal investigator for TACLS.
In simulations testing, TACLS used data from diverse severe weather events—including atmospheric rivers, monsoonal convection, and tropical cyclone remnants—between 2017 and 2023 and successfully captured 93% of the issued flash-flood warnings. Meteorologists from the National Weather Service are currently working to incorporate TACLS into their existing systems for forecasting flash floods in Southern California.
This learning system has two main components. First, an analytic back-end software suite uses machine learning algorithms to process satellite data and determine areas at risk for flooding. Second, user-friendly visualization software highlights those areas for further analysis by humans.
The ACLS back-end software analyzes data from satellites in the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), a constellation of satellite networks that drive navigation services around the world. Water vapor in the troposphere delays signals from these satellites as they travel to Earth. This signal delay can be analyzed to calculate the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere over a particular location on Earth.
The TACLS analytic back-end software suite features a machine learning model trained using more than 30 years of past GNSS data. This model is an anomaly detector that tracks unusual increases in atmospheric moisture. The model then carefully examines that atmospheric moisture data and determines whether it’s either an artifact (a false feature or distortion in the data) or a transient (a time-sensitive physical event, like heavy precipitation) that requires interpretation by human analysts.
If TACLS determines the data represents a transient, such as an extreme weather event that warrants a flash flood warning, it will forward that data to the TACLS visualization software (MGViz) for further evaluation by humans. The analysts use their judgement and experience to interpret these events and determine whether the flagged data indicates a flash flood is likely, and, if necessary, issue a flash flood warning.
Several past innovations developed at JPL are leveraged by TACLS to process GNSS data and present the results. The analytic back-end software suite incorporates elements from JPL’s Domain-agnostic Outlier Ranking Algorithms program and the Time-series Forecasting, Evaluation, and Deployment program. The TACLS visualizer is based on the Multi-Mission Geographic Information System, originally developed at JPL for NASA’s Mars missions.
The TACLS software binds all these components within a novel system that enhances existing methods to reduce the amount of time it takes for a human analyst to determine whether to issue a flash flood warning.
Both the TACLS software and the data used to train it will be open-source, allowing scientists to either tailor this model in response to their unique research needs or create their own model from scratch.
For additional details, see the entry for this project on NASA TechPort.
Project Lead: Dr. Yehuda Bock, University of California, San Diego.
Sponsoring Organization(s): NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office Advanced Information Systems Technology Program; JPL; NOAA; National Weather Service.
Created with support from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), TACLS leverages machine learning to automatically locate evidence (unusual increases in atmospheric moisture) of impending flash flooding that meteorologists may otherwise miss as they analyze large amounts of data. TACLS flags that evidence, indicates where flash flooding could likely occur, and displays that information via a user-friendly visualization for human analysts to interpret. Those analysts can then decide whether to issue a flash flood warning or weather advisory.
This novel framework for tracking extreme weather events and predicting imminent flash floods operates in near real-time, producing forecasts in as little as fifteen minutes.
“That’s really what we wanted to do, to give meteorologists a tool to help decision making for flash flood warnings,” said Yehuda Bock, Distinguished Researcher at the UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography and principal investigator for TACLS.
In simulations testing, TACLS used data from diverse severe weather events—including atmospheric rivers, monsoonal convection, and tropical cyclone remnants—between 2017 and 2023 and successfully captured 93% of the issued flash-flood warnings. Meteorologists from the National Weather Service are currently working to incorporate TACLS into their existing systems for forecasting flash floods in Southern California.
This learning system has two main components. First, an analytic back-end software suite uses machine learning algorithms to process satellite data and determine areas at risk for flooding. Second, user-friendly visualization software highlights those areas for further analysis by humans.
The ACLS back-end software analyzes data from satellites in the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), a constellation of satellite networks that drive navigation services around the world. Water vapor in the troposphere delays signals from these satellites as they travel to Earth. This signal delay can be analyzed to calculate the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere over a particular location on Earth.
The TACLS analytic back-end software suite features a machine learning model trained using more than 30 years of past GNSS data. This model is an anomaly detector that tracks unusual increases in atmospheric moisture. The model then carefully examines that atmospheric moisture data and determines whether it’s either an artifact (a false feature or distortion in the data) or a transient (a time-sensitive physical event, like heavy precipitation) that requires interpretation by human analysts.
If TACLS determines the data represents a transient, such as an extreme weather event that warrants a flash flood warning, it will forward that data to the TACLS visualization software (MGViz) for further evaluation by humans. The analysts use their judgement and experience to interpret these events and determine whether the flagged data indicates a flash flood is likely, and, if necessary, issue a flash flood warning.
Several past innovations developed at JPL are leveraged by TACLS to process GNSS data and present the results. The analytic back-end software suite incorporates elements from JPL’s Domain-agnostic Outlier Ranking Algorithms program and the Time-series Forecasting, Evaluation, and Deployment program. The TACLS visualizer is based on the Multi-Mission Geographic Information System, originally developed at JPL for NASA’s Mars missions.
The TACLS software binds all these components within a novel system that enhances existing methods to reduce the amount of time it takes for a human analyst to determine whether to issue a flash flood warning.
Both the TACLS software and the data used to train it will be open-source, allowing scientists to either tailor this model in response to their unique research needs or create their own model from scratch.
For additional details, see the entry for this project on NASA TechPort.
Project Lead: Dr. Yehuda Bock, University of California, San Diego.
Sponsoring Organization(s): NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office Advanced Information Systems Technology Program; JPL; NOAA; National Weather Service.
The post NASA Uses Machine Learning to Enhance Flash Flood Warnings appeared first on NASA Science.
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